Not just water, but also resources: electricity, RAM and Flash memory, other things being over-consumed by the AI development explosion. This war doesn’t have geographic or national boundaries, its the (heavily funded) AI companies vs everyone else.
It’s a class war. Always has been. It takes different forms depending on the context of what’s being extracted from us and how intensely. It’s always happening whether we like it or not.
It’s about the cheaper method of cooling, there’s no need for them to have to waste water if they recycled it correctly. It’s really a war about the latest hot investment getting all the socialist policies from the government versus people being milked through do-or-die capitalism by a government that only does the bare minimum to fulfill their obligations to them.
only does the bare minimum to fulfill their obligations to them.
They oftentimes can’t even do that, I’m afraid. ☹️
water is cheap and electricity usually (ignoring hydro solar and wind) consumes about as much as the datacenter does directly to produce.
it almost looks like desalination might be more energy efficient than not using the water for datacenter cooling even
We need to weaponize beavers against deserts. It’s our only hope.
Plus, they work for free, and don’t even require a planning commission. They just go right to work.
🦫
Can’t believe I’m about to find out what happened to the rest of the world outside Australia in the MAD MAX universe by living through it myself!
It’s between countries as well, let’s not forget that in the background of the current situation, Iran is also facing a major water crisis.
I’d call that more of an oil war, though they get their water through oil… everything is connected.
I’ve heard the Arab Spring being referred to as “the first of the climate wars”
Between states too, considering the water situation in the western US
https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/konflikt-um-wasser-italien-und-frankreich-wollen-schweizer-wasser Current news in Switzerland:
Italy and France want Swiss water France and Italy rely on Switzerland for their agriculture: water that is increasingly lacking. The Confederation is negotiating with France and Italy.
When those glaciers are gone there are going to be a lot of changes…
While human efforts at reclamation of the Sahara have made some dents here and there, overall the desert has expanded 10% in the last 100 years. When there’s no more snow in the alps, it’s going to make the jump across the Mediterranean.
i think maybe you should look into socio-economic class differences if you think this is new. i can give you links to some great literature on the subject?
Class differences, murder and mass killings without legal repercussions, flaunting of property and resource rights - confiscations without compensation, all of it are older than the human race and have always been continuously present somewhere on Earth - what makes it war is the open declaration and proud practice of it.
Urgh
yeah, real life sucks
Nah, it’s way easier to just make up profound sounding pronouncements like “the water wars have already started” than to actually read something or challenge your misconceptions.
You’re right of course. People have been fighting over access to water since forever.
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Paolo Bacigalupi is to the climate crisis what William Gibson is to cyberpunk. Stories like The Water Knife and The Tamarisk Hunter feeling a lot closer to reality everyday. But then again, fighting over access to water is a tale as old as time.
If you look around the globe, there are all kinds of wars about all kinds of things all the time - you really have to live in a very small bubble to experience “lasting peace” of any duration.
They’re trying to deprive you of your ability to have thoughts.
Bullshit. Water usage isn’t meaningful it’s propaganda spread by left wingers
Kyle Hill made pretty comprehensive debunk video about it.
This guy?
This guy is where you get your science information?
Why should anyone give a fuck what your opinion is, ever?
Don’t shame them, let them fly their flags proudly - makes 'em easier to spot.
Now, I’ll agree that datacenters don’t have to use water at all (but they do, to save money), and I’ll agree that their water use is overblown in many cases, but that’s no comfort at all when it hits your community:
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/08/georgia-data-centers-water-00909988
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2193937991360483
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuMuxbrIwxc
Water availability and quality is one thing that gets people to wake up and take action: war.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/08/georgia-data-centers-water-00909988
A data center drained 30M gallons of water
It’s never percentages. It’s always the big flashy numbers in these articles.
If the datacenter usage is a rounding error compared to agriculture then efficiency of agriculture is the actual problem. Not the data center usage
The efficiency of agricultural use of water has been an actual problem since forever. Knew a guy who ran a Tilapia farm outside of San Antonio, TX - secured all the legal water rights, was encouraged by the Dept. of Agriculture to develop the project with all kinds of tax breaks, ran successfully for a few years then a drought came and the city of San Antonio realized this guy’s fish farm was using more water from their aquifer than the whole city. They bought him out / shut it down imminent domain style…
This guy is where you get your science information?
Yes.
Is he wrong tho?
